Message Credibility Research Articles

How do social media influencers induce the urge to buy impulsively? Social commerce context

Based on signaling theory, the current research examines the impact of Fashion Influencers (FIs) on consumers' Urge to Buy Impulsively (UBI) in a social commerce context. This research specifically focuses on identifying the key factors contributing to the trust in FIs' branded posts, which subsequently impact UBI. Additionally, this study explores the moderating role of persuasion knowledge in the trust-UBI relationship and whether the trust in FIs branded posts acts as a mediator. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to social media users in Pakistan. A total of 452 responses were collected and analyzed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to examine the impact of FIs on UBI. Results indicate that trust in the FIs' branded posts positively impacts UBI. The results also demonstrate that Influencer Credibility (IC), Message Credibility (MC), and Media Credibility (MeC) are essential factors that contribute to the trust in FIs' branded posts. Furthermore, persuasion knowledge moderates the trust-UBI relationship, and trust in FI's branded posts mediates the relationship between IC, MC, MeC and UBI. These findings add value to the literature and offer practical insights for fashion industry marketers by providing a roadmap for fostering trust-centric relationships with followers and, in turn, fostering UBI in a social commerce context.

An Experimental Study on the Effects of Communication, Credibility, and Clustering in Network Games

Abstract We examine how preplay communication and clustering affect play in a challenging hybrid experimental game on networks. Free-form chat is impressively effective in achieving the nonequilibrium efficient outcome, but restricted communication has little effect. We support this result with a model about the credibility of cheap-talk messages. We also offer a model of message diffusion that correctly predicts more rapid diffusion without clustering. We show an interaction effect of network structure and communication technologies. A remarkable result is that restricted communication is quite effective in a network stag hunt but not in our extended game.

Communicating scientific uncertainty in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: A message experiment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. It was a time of significant uncertainty as experts were not yet certain whether social distancing behaviors were necessary to slow the spread of the virus. Some public communicators opted to acknowledge uncertainty based on the limited evidence, whereas others downplayed uncertainty. This situation provided researchers with an opportunity to advance theory by explicating and testing cognitive responses to message uncertainty. Immediately following the WHO declaration (March 13-19, 2020), U.S. adults (N = 1186) were randomly assigned to one of six conditions in a 2 (message uncertainty: low, high) × 3 (argument support: expert, threat, precedent) between-participants experiment. Overall, perceived uncertainty negatively mediated the impact of message uncertainty on intentions. However, participant education was a key moderator. For those with more than a high school education, uncertain messages were related to higher intentions to social distance through increased critical reflection. For those with a high school education or less, uncertain messages were related to lower intentions through decreased message credibility.

Automated Messaging Delivered Alongside Behavioral Treatment for Weight Loss: Qualitative Study.

Mobile health interventions for weight loss frequently use automated messaging. However, this intervention modality appears to have limited weight loss efficacy. Furthermore, data on users' subjective experiences while receiving automated messaging-based interventions for weight loss are scarce, especially for more advanced messaging systems providing users with individually tailored, data-informed feedback. The purpose of this study was to characterize the experiences of individuals with overweight or obesity who received automated messages for 6-12 months as part of a behavioral weight loss trial. Participants (n=40) provided Likert-scale ratings of messaging acceptability and completed a structured qualitative interview (n=39) focused on their experiences with the messaging system and generating suggestions for improvement. Interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants found the messages most useful for summarizing goal progress and least useful for suggesting new behavioral strategies. Overall message acceptability was moderate (2.67 out of 5). From the interviews, 2 meta-themes emerged. Participants indicated that although the messages provided useful reminders of intervention goals and skills, they did not adequately capture their lived experiences while losing weight. Many participants found the automated messages insufficiently tailored to their personal weight loss experiences. Future studies should explore alternative methods for message tailoring (eg, allowing for a higher degree of participant input and interactivity) that may boost treatment engagement and efficacy. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05231824; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05231824.

Revealing complexities when adult readers engage in the credibility evaluation of social media posts

The internet, including social networking sites, has become a major source of health information for laypersons. Yet, the internet has also become a platform for spreading misinformation that challenges adults’ ability to critically evaluate the credibility of health messages. To better understand the factors affecting credibility judgements, the present study investigates the role of source characteristics, evidence quality, crowdsourcing platform, and prior beliefs of the topic in adult readers’ credibility evaluations of short health-related social media posts. Researchers designed content for the posts concerning five health topics by manipulating source characteristics (source’s expertise, gender, and ethnicity), accuracy of the claims, and evidence quality (research evidence, testimony, consensus, and personal experience) in the posts. Then, accurate and inaccurate posts varying in these other manipulated aspects were computer-generated. Crowdworkers (N = 844) recruited from two platforms were asked to evaluate the credibility of ten social media posts, resulting in 8380 evaluations. Before credibility evaluation, participants’ prior beliefs on the topics of the posts were assessed. Results showed that prior belief consistency and source expertise most affected the perceived credibility of accurate and inaccurate social media posts after controlling for the topic of the post. In contrast, the quality of evidence supporting the health claim mattered relatively little. In addition, the data collection platform had a notable impact, such that posts containing inaccurate claims were much more likely to be rated higher on one platform compared to the other. Implications for credibility evaluation theory and research are discussed.

Crisis Communication: Conceptualizing the Efficacy of Information Source Credibility on Crisis Message Acceptability and Reputation Sustainability

Recent studies have shown that social media users' perception of message acceptance and compliance during a crisis depends on its source credibility, and this has been relatively underexplored in the crisis communication context. The credibility of social media/information sources influences the users' attitudes and information quality, public engagement, and information believability during a crisis. In response to crisis communication, scholars revealed that despite the wide use of SCCT by crisis communication researchers, the theory still has limitations in evaluating factors that could potentially affect an organizational reputation. Response source credibility is a factor that influences crisis response strategies and sustains reputation. During emergencies, unreliable and untrustworthy sources of information and media coverage of content perceived as threatening can elicit aversive emotions, such as distress, depression, and mental damage, and further generate more crises. This study proposes a conceptual model for the efficacy of source credibility on message (crisis response) acceptability and reputation sustainability. To monitor the streams of research conducted on source credibility, the authors used the Scopus database to examine the numbers of research on source credibility in the domain of crisis communication and subject areas. The results revealed that the perceived information source credibility during a crisis influences message acceptance and mediates the relationships between crisis response strategies and reputation. The paper will help the crisis management team appreciate the value of source credibility and save reputation during a crisis.

Fighting a Global Pandemic in the Digital Age: Use of Infographics to ‘Flatten the Curve’ in the U.S. and India

ABSTRACT This research examined the factors influencing people’s likelihood of following the COVID-19 preventive measures of hand washing and wearing face masks communicated via infographics, in the U.S. and India. Guided by the Health Belief Model (HBM), this study used a 3 (source: national versus international versus a dummy source) X 2 (topic: hand washing versus wearing a face mask) X 2 (country: the U.S. versus India) research design. The results showed that the HBM constructs of perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy were associated with people’s likelihood of following the suggested guidelines. Message credibility mediated these relationships. Source credibility mediated the relationship between people’s perceptions of severity and their intentions to adopt the preventive measures. Particularly for the hand washing infographics, people’s likelihood of following these guidelines were significantly higher in the U.S. than India. Theoretical and managerial implications for international strategic communication are provided.

Public health promotion of COVID-19 vaccination to rural consumers: synthesising the role of social media and religious belief systems

PurposeThe main purpose of the study was to synthesise the role of COVID-19 social media messages and indigenous religious beliefs on public health promotion initiatives among rural consumers in Zimbabwe.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was adopted. Population consisting of 15 interviews and six focus groups was purposively sampled from Manicaland, Mashonaland Central and Masvingo provinces in Zimbabwe. A thematic approach was used to present and analyse the data.FindingsRural consumers believed WhatsApp messages posted by people whom they know or influential personnel like health workers. Credibility of WhatsApp messages was enhanced through its ability to send videos and audios. Teachings and indoctrination by indigenous churches and misinformation were found to be an impediment in believing COVID-19 WhatsApp messages and vaccination by rural consumers. Faith healers in indigenous churches used various practices and artefacts like holy water, stone pebbles, clay pots, flags and wooden rods to pray and treat patients suffering from COVID-19 and other ailments.Practical implicationsSocial media messages, religious teachings and indoctrination may be a hindrance to rural consumers in adopting government public health promotion initiatives; hence, public health professionals need prior emic understanding and co-option of local leadership in vaccination campaigns.Originality/valueThis study outstretches the theoretical landscape in consumer behaviour and also practical contribution to health practitioners and marketers on breaking indigenous religious barriers and social media misconceptions on vaccination uptake through promotional strategies earmarked for rural consumers.

A cross-sectional study of perceptions of COVID-19 and adherence to preventive measures among Saudi college students using the health belief model

This study utilized the health belief model (HBM) to investigate the association between the perceptions of COVID-19, adherence to healthy behaviors, and the credibility of COVID-19 information. This cross-sectional study utilized an online survey distributed to a random sample of graduate and undergraduate college students (<i>N</i> = 408) at a large public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study utilized two validated and reliable 5-point Likert scales to assess individuals’ perceptions of COVID-19 and the credibility of health messages promoted via various communication channels. Various statistical analyses, including Kruskal-Wallis H and Pearson correlation coefficient (r) tests, suggested a positive association between the credibility of COVID-19 information and the HBM and a positive association between the HBM and adopting COVID-19 preventive measures. Individuals perceived public health authorities as more credible sources of COVID-19 information than traditional and social media platforms. The study recommends that public health authorities convey tailored, effective, consistent, and transparent health messages via proper communication channels to persuade and motivate individuals to adopt healthy behaviors during future pandemics.

Whom to trust and when? Party message perception in multiparty systems

Voters follow their in-group party no matter what they are talking about. But what if reality is more nuanced? In this study, I ask how the perception of party signals works in multiparty systems and whether voters’ trust in the communication medium matters. Thus, I combine party perception research with literature on the influence of trust in different channels to analyse the effects on agreement with a statement and its credibility. Using a survey experiment in Germany, I examine the extent to which the perception of party statements changes when the respective party label and the communication medium change. I find that higher trust in the medium has a positive effect on the perception of the credibility of a party message. Furthermore, a dichotomous in-group vs. out-group divide does not reflect the complexity of a multiparty system. The results have implications for the effects of party communication and voter polarization.

Reception Analysis of Overseas Students Against Family Conflict in “Ngeri-Ngeri Sedap” Movie

Film is one of the media that is considered effective for telling messages because it is easily received and well felt by the audience. The Ngeri-Ngeri Sedap movie presents a family conflict that the researcher will use as a background to see the formed reception. This study uses descriptive qualitative methods through the reception analysis approach of Stuart Hall's encoding-decoding model to determine the acceptance of messages received by overseas students regarding the family conflict in the Ngeri-Ngeri Sedap movie. Based on the decoding results of the research conducted, the audience actively creates meaning for family conflicts in the film. The results showed that most informants were in a dominant position who accepted that the film tell about family conflicts, especially conflicts between parents and children and between siblings. Meanwhile, some informants are in a negotiated position who see conflict in the form of wrong communication patterns but have their own perspective on the meaning in the film.

Combining Probabilistic Hazard Information Forecast Graphics with Wireless Emergency Alert Messages: An Exploratory, Qualitative Study

Abstract Since 2019, National Weather Service (NWS) offices have been able to issue 360-character Wireless Emergency Alert (“WEA360”) messages for tornadoes. NWS is now considering changing from a “deterministic” to a “probabilistic” warning paradigm. That change could possibly influence how WEA360 messages for tornado are issued in the future. Recent experimental studies have found that probabilistic hazard information (PHI) forecast graphics improve consumers’ risk perception for tornadoes, but findings from these studies concerning whether PHI forecast graphics improve people’s protective action decision-making are mixed. The present study therefore investigated how mock PHI-enhanced WEA360 messages might influence people’s risk perception and protective action decision-making. Analysis of qualitative data gathered from a combination of questionnaire and focus group interview methods conducted in collaboration with 31 community members in Denver, Colorado, indicated that inclusion of PHI forecast graphics within WEA360 messages elicited high levels of understanding and message believability but did not consistently lead to appropriate precautionary intent. Because warning response is a complex social phenomenon, PHI may not significantly improve protective action decision-making if PHI forecast graphics are eventually presented to consumers via the Wireless Emergency Alerts system. Factors that PHI stakeholders should consider before the adoption of PHI-enhanced WEA360 messages for consumers are discussed. Significance Statement This study examines how consumers respond to and talk about mock WEA360 messages for tornadoes that contain embedded PHI forecast graphics. As NWS considers moving to a probabilistic warning paradigm, stakeholders will need to determine how PHI forecast graphics might be communicated directly to consumers, if at all. Our findings suggest that combining WEA360 messages with PHI forecast graphics creates challenges and complexities related to consumers’ assessment of personal risk and protective action decision-making. Overall, the study suggests that any future PHI-enhanced WEA360 messages provided directly to consumers, if at all, must avoid discrepancies (even subtle) between the level of risk represented by the PHI forecast graphic and the protective action guidance included in the text of the messages.

Diffusion of COVID-19 misinformation: Mechanisms for threat- and efficacy-related misinformation diffusion

Health-related misinformation diffused online is largely comprised of threat- and efficacy-related information but potential differences in the way they are diffused have not been examined extensively. This research examined if and how threat-related COVID-19 misinformation is diffused more actively than the ones concerning the efficacy of protective actions. Further, it explored the mechanisms underlying the diffusion of threat- and efficacy-related misinformation by testing the mediating capacities of the three key drivers of information diffusion– novelty, emotional arousal, and message credibility. Results of multilevel analyses of online survey data (N = 1,012) employing a national quota sample in South Korea showed that threat-related misinformation was diffused more than efficacy-related misinformation. Furthermore, multilevel path models specifying the three key drivers as mediators indicated that the effects of threat-related misinformation on social sharing were explained by greater perceptions of novelty and emotional arousal. Message credibility, however, mediated the effects on sharing intention for those who have not been exposed to a given misinformation but not actual sharing behavior upon exposure, suggesting that the latter may be influenced more by arousal-based responses (e.g., emotional arousal) than sound reasoning (e.g., message credibility). Implications on interventions aiming at curbing health misinformation diffusion are discussed.

Social Media Advertising Influences Customers' Purchase Intention in Generation Z

Spending on social media advertising is expected to reach $207.10 billion in 2023, according to Statista forecasts. This growth in advertising investment in social networks means that brands are changing their global advertising plans in order to increasingly promote their products and services through online advertising, directing their communication to the Z generation that was born to consume content available on social media. This research aimed to investigate how the importance of advertising moderates the relationship between advertising on social networks and consumers' purchase intention. Advertising on social networks is a strategy that can be used to increase the credibility of a brand's promotional message, making advertising more persuasive and credible. The study included 919 respondents, aged between 18 and 26 years, most of whom were female (51.3%). To measure the purchase intention, a composite variable was created, consisting of the four items developed by Duffett (2015). Data analysis revealed that advertising on social networks and the importance given to advertising significantly influence consumers' purchase intention. This data is important for brand managers, advertisers, and marketers because it is clear that purchase intent tends to increase when consumers consider advertising on social networks to be important. Keywords: Social media advertising, purchase intention, advertising importance, Generation Z.

Discursive Construction of Message Credibility for Chinese State-Owned Enterprises on Twitter

Discursive Construction of Message Credibility for Chinese State-Owned Enterprises on Twitter

AI as an Apolitical Referee: Using Alternative Sources to Decrease Partisan Biases in the Processing of Fact-Checking Messages

While fact-checking has received much attention as a tool to fight misinformation online, fact-checking efforts have yielded limited success in combating political misinformation due to partisans’ biased information processing. The efficacy of fact-checking often decreases, if not backfires, when the fact-checking messages contradict individual audiences’ political stance. To explore ways to minimize such politically biased processing of fact-checking messages, an online experiment (N = 645) examined how different source labels of fact-checking messages (human experts vs. AI vs. crowdsourcing vs. human experts-AI hybrid) influence partisans’ processing of fact-checking messages. Results showed that AI and crowdsourcing source labels significantly reduced motivated reasoning in evaluating the credibility of fact-checking messages whereas the partisan bias remained evident for the human experts and human experts-AI hybrid source labels.

It’s a problem, but not mine: Exploring bias-related message acceptance among teachers

Teachers’ judgements and interactions may be influenced by the backgrounds of their students, yet research shows that they may be reluctant to accept evidence relating to such biases. We investigated teachers’ perceptions of their own and others’ biases and explored whether a brief self-affirmation manipulation—which tends to reduce defensive responding— could increase their acknowledgement of personal and institutional bias. UK-based teachers (N = 288) completed either a values affirmation or control task before reading a mildly threatening research-based article about unconscious bias in education. Overall, teachers exhibited a bias blind spot, whereby they were more likely to perceive unconscious bias as an issue for other teachers to contend with rather than as a concern for themselves. Self-affirmed teachers were more likely to agree to have their teaching filmed to explore if/where personal biases may exist. Nevertheless, the self-affirmation did not alter levels of overall acceptance of the issue or perceptions of personal relevance. Exploratory analyses suggested that greater support for equity-enhancing teaching practices among teachers was associated with increased acknowledgement of bias and support for anti-bias initiatives. The findings suggest that self-affirmation may offer limited scope for improving acknowledgement of biases and that more work needs to be done to challenge and change the narrative of prejudice in schooling, from one that concerns only a few ‘bad apples’ to one that is accepted as an issue for all educators to be aware of and responsible for.

Credibility Signals from Soft Information: Evidence from Investor Reactions to Tone in Earnings Conference Calls

Research assigns significant share price relevance to linguistic tone in earnings conference calls. Tone is, however, only one facet in the mosaic of the soft information that is disseminated in the interactive conference call setting. We argue that investors exploit further aspects of this soft information to simultaneously assess the tone’s credibility. Drawing on the communication literature, we focus on the role of perceived sender and message credibility in conference calls in altering investor reactions to tone. We measure sender credibility as the trustworthiness originating from the manager’s perceived personality (i.e., Big 5 traits), and message credibility as characteristics of a credible communication style and structure. We find corroborating evidence that investor reactions to tone are stronger in the presence of higher sender and message credibility. We also find the credibility effect to be stronger in weaker information environments, where we expect the reliance on simultaneously perceived credibility signals from soft information to be higher. Finally, we find that sender and message credibility strongly attenuate the negative post-conference-call drift in the investor reaction to tone. Our results provide evidence that investors benefit from considering credibility signals from the simultaneously perceived soft information when reacting to tone in conference calls.

Shouldn’t We Know This Already? UK Women’s Views About Communicating the Link Between Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Breast Cancer

ABSTRACT Alcohol is a causal factor in about 10% of breast cancer (BCa) cases, but awareness of this link is low. This study explored how to raise awareness and inform the development of an intervention using the COM-B model (capability, opportunity, motivation, behavior) framework. Eight online focus groups were conducted with 36 participants (6 expert stakeholders,and 30 women aged 40–65). Participants reflected on a package of information about alcohol and BCa and discussed how to impart this information and encourage women to reduce drinking. Thematic analysis of focus group transcripts was undertaken. Three themes were identified: understanding ineffective messaging; transitions and challenges; and message acceptability. Current health information about alcohol was perceived as judgmental and BCa was put down to chance. Mid-life consisted of many challenges that could lead to increased consumption, but menopause transition may be a key moment for alcohol reduction. Barriers and enablers to communicating risk information and encouraging alcohol reduction were mapped onto the COM-B model. Psychological capability (relating to knowledge), social opportunity (in the form of social pressure) and automatic motivation (relating to drinking to cope) were barriers to behavior change. These will be targeted in an alcohol reduction intervention. It is important to tailor information to women’s experiences, taking into account the social benefits of drinking, and encourage the development of healthy coping strategies. Acceptable intervention messages may include personal stories, clear statistics, and suggest healthy alternatives to drinking. It is vital that messaging does not appear judgmental or patronizing.

Blockchain-assisted certificateless signcryption for vehicle-to-vehicle communication in VANETs

In vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs), real-time messages are used to guarantee transportation efficiency and passenger safety through the exchange among vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I). Therefore, the timely acceptance of safety messages is critical to establishing efficient and reliable communication in VANETs, which hinges on an efficient privacy-preserving authentication mechanism. However, these mechanisms face either security or performance problems. Although some state-of-the-art signcryption schemes meet the needs of security requirements of authentication, performance is not efficient in computational overhead for an increase of the bilinear pairing operations in batch unsigncryption verification. Therefore, we have designed an efficient and provably secure blockchain-assisted certificateless signcryption (BACLS) that provides a feasible security communication in theoretical analysis and experiments. The BACLS scheme ensures security against type-I and type-II attackers in regard to existential unforgeability against adaptively chosen message attacks (EUF-CMA) under the hardness assumption of the gap bilinear Diffie–Hellman problem and indistinguishability against adaptive chosen ciphertext attack (IND-CCA2) under the hardness assumption of the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem in the random oracle model (ROM). The experiments demonstrate that the BACLS scheme significantly reduces unsigncryption computational costs and power consumption in contrast to state-of-the-art schemes, and promotes the development of a decentralized authentication system in VANETs.